Festa della Zucca

The Festa della Zucca is held every year in Venzone, Italy. The historical town center transforms into a Medieval town with fire eaters and dancing. The streets are lit by torches and candles, and are peopled by nobles, knights and ladies, innkeepers and tavern keepers, shopkeepers and merchants.The shops are decorated with pumpkins and gastronomic delights such as pumpkin pizza, pumpkin gnocchi, and pumpkin crostini can be found all throughout the town.

The origins of the Pumpkin Festival are legendary. The Noble of the village of Venzone had made available all his wealth and his own money to beautify and fortify the town. In short, their availability for the completion of restoration and renewal of the country ended and many workers were not rewarded. Among them, a master of Udine, who was called by Venzonesi, was hired to complete the copper dome of the Cathedral of Venzone with a golden ball. But he too was not paid for his work. He then replaced the ball on the golden dome of the cathedral with a pumpkin. The townspeople realized that they were tricked by the artist only on the day when the ball fell from its position on the dome and smashed to the ground.

This is a popular festival, so prepare for a walk from where you can find a spot to park. We walked a little over a mile into the town. The main square had a stage set up where musicians and the fire eaters performed. We sampled the pumpkin pizza with pancetta and pumpkin crostini, both which were delicious!

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Festa della Zucca

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About Jennifer Dombrowski

Jennifer Dombrowski is an independent travel publisher and an American expat who has lived in Bordeaux, France since 2016. She previously lived in Northern Italy in a small village near Venice for seven years where she fell in love with wine and wine tourism. She is an award-winning travel writer. She is also a travel correspondent on Traveling on the American Forces Radio Network. Luxe Adventure Traveler was named one of the top travel blogs to watch by the Huffington Post and TripAdvisor, and has been featured by top publications such as National Geographic, CNN, Buzzfeed, and Business Insider. Jennifer's photography has also been featured on publications such as USA Today and Travel + Leisure and on the Travel Channel.

Meet Jennifer & Tim

We’re Jennifer and Tim. We’re professional travel writers and photographers who love adventure and wine, so we often try to combine the two. By day, you’ll find us out on some crazy adventure like snorkeling in Iceland in winter or on a long distance hut-to-hut hike in the Dolomites, but by night, we’re creatures of comfort. If you’re looking for a travel blog about a long-term around-the-world journey, how to travel on $50 a day or less or traveling with kids, Luxe Adventure Traveler isn’t it. Our award-winning travel blog is all about heart pumping adventures, world class accommodations and luxury experiences. Read more...

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